User blog:Sunshine Souperman/Random Plot Generator for the Unimaginative Comic Book Writer
Rather than developing unique storylines relevant to a comic character, a writer who lacks creativity and imagination just need role a 20 sided die and locate the corresponding plot developments listed below. 1. Redesign the costume of the character. When story content is wearing thin you can give the character a boost in sales with a design overhaul. It’s like putting lipstick on a pig without actually doing anything of quality. 2. Change the character into someone or something else. Swapping minds with a villain, turning heroes into animals, and reincarnating characters into females; it’s fun and cheesy – heck it doesn’t even make sense – but it opens a wealth of plot developments. 3. Give the powers and suit of a character over to a person of another sex, preferably to the same race as the character or possibly an African American. This is a quick fix and panders to the men as well as the women readers. 4. Give the character’s powers and costume over to a person of another race, preferably to African American but never a Mexican, Saudi Arabian or Russian. 5. Change the characters powers. Rather than designing an entirely new character from scratch, all you have to do is change a popular character so drastically that they are nothing like the original. Although you may alienate your fan base you may attract a new audience of fickle children. 6. Remove the character’s powers. Sometimes the loss of powers is an opportunity for you to give those powers to someone else (see # 3 and 4) or to have them rise above their setbacks by arming themselves with guns, putting on a tech suit that replicates their former powers, or simply moving them into retirement. All of which are compelling storylines to say the least. 7. Change of origin. You only thought your favorite character was the first character to gain his powers from a government experiment. Actually, it was a newly introduced clandestine evil organization that gave powers to your hero and one other, a man who went on to kill the hero’s parents. Sure it destroys the foundation of the character by reinventing his past with a completely new narrative that was somehow lost in time but it makes the reader feel like he is in on a secret. 8. Kill the main character. Don’t worry you will bring the dead character back to life in the near future and in the meantime you can turn the comic over to a sidekick, wannabe, or someone who has the exact same powers as the original. Again, see # 3 and 4. 9. Traumatize beloved characters. Killing a loved one is the best bet but never rule out rape or sever - nearly unrecoverable - injury. You can quickly turn any happy go-lucky character into a brooding tool of vengeance and a dark character into a blood thirsty monster. This goes into… 10. Change the alignment of a character. Good and bad are vague and mutable qualities in the comic book world. Any hero can become a villain and vice versa. A really bad author can make a character change sides so often that they lose any identifiable character at all. And besides, if you’re clever enough you can reverse a hero’s downfall with an ad hock explanation such as, he was possessed by an alien entity or he had a different political view on an issue and is really sorry about it. 11. Good versus Good. The only thing that is better that the old story of good versus evil is when two heroes find themselves in armed combat. There doesn’t even have to be a rational reason for why two good people would try to physically harm on another, just manufacture a silly argument or force them into conflict over the fate of the universe. 12. Cross the line. Every hero has their limits so there will be a time where the writer needs to jump the shark by having the character break the law, take the law into their own hands, or even (gulp) commit murder. Don’t worry about tainting the rep of the hero, the public has a short attention span and virtually no historical knowledge. 13. Accidentally kill someone. Sometimes an author is hesitant to make a hero cross the line so it is far better to have the character accidentally harm others while in the act of saving the day. Their conscience will do the writing for you. 14. Create a sidekick. Every intense hero needs comedy relieve and nothing does better than assigning them a helper. Heck, even the Blue Falcon had Dynomutt. But even if you decide to make the character less light hearted it is preferable to design them as close to their mentor as possible with the exact same powers just a bit younger and inexperienced. 15. Make an inverted enemy. Behind every great hero is a great archenemy, but nothing out enemies and archenemy than a villain that is exactly like the hero but in a black costume. It’s like fighting an evil counterpart at the end of a video game. They are stronger, faster and bigger without the restriction of morality but somehow they are never able to defeat the law-abiding hero. 16. Reveal their secret identity. Whether to a villain or to the general public, having one’s identity revealed can do nothing but create angst for our heroes. It can even start a war. 17. Turn a single issue comic into a yearlong multi-titled crossover. Remember that great classic issue about aliens taking over or how our hero was a warrior on a strange planet? Well, now it is a highly commercialized series that will be incorporated into every storyline within every title over the next few years. 18. Throw in omnipotence. It can be a glove or a celestial entity but nothing changes the game like limitless power. Anything that can happen will happen. But beware; using this type of story may result in an ill-conceived finale where mere mortals have to outwit the barer of omnipotence into undoing themselves. And we have all seen that far too many times before. 19. Have a crisis. When all else fails you can change reality. Not sure how to make your benevolent and indestructible alien hero interesting, create a world where he is not so indestructible or infallible and make him from another dimension. In fact, write him as an edgy anti-hero and his formerly mediocre arch-enemy as a psychotic freak. Remember, continuity is as irrelevant as the readers. And if the fans don’t like it, well there are new fans born every minute. 20. Rinse and repeat. The great thing about a generic plot, crisis, or other crossover is that you can do it again and again without end because people will buy anything. Rule of thumb: Keep this in mind when creating new stories. Ignore historical accuracy. We may know that a villain was previously disintegrated but it has been five years and this is a different title. So we can bring the character back without explanation. And I know the character was notoriously claustrophobic but now we need her to be chased into the sewers and by golly it’s gonna happen. I sure this helps those at the small comic book companies with future project developments. DC and Marvel sure don’t need this list they seem to have written the book on the subject. Category:Blog posts